Tap the brakes

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the @npmx.dev team is taking a week to recharge in the middle of an exponential growth period. It's an admirable decision that demonstrates a deep commitment to the long term health of both their people and their product.

Burnout is extremely real and all too common among software developers. I've experienced it myself — more than once, in fact, because I'm a slow learner when it comes to personal mental health. The reality is most of us love what we do and as a result it's deceptively easy to spend an unhealthy amount of time grinding away on an endless series of projects with no break. You can get away with it for a while but it will catch up with you one day.

I like to analogize burnout and the need for breaks to cycling a lithium battery. Most electronics or the batteries themselves have built-in overdischarge protection to prevent it, but if you drain a lithium battery beyond its safe lower limit it can cause irreparable damage. As the charge level descends through the point of no return there's no indication or warning sign, no obvious sign that you've discharged it too much. You know the charge is getting low but you have no idea you pushed it too far until you plug it in to recharge and nothing happens.

That's what burnout is like. You felt the stress as it accumulated but it wasn't serious enough to stop you. There was no warning sign that you were pushing yourself past the critical point. It's not until you're forced to accept that you're overdue for a recharge that you discover it doesn't work. You take time off but come back feeling unrefreshed. You've overdischarged your battery.

Fortunately, you are not a battery. You can get your passion back but it's going to take much longer and a lot more work than you expected.

So please, take time off regularly whether you think you need it or not. You are your own overdischarge protection.